The first Wannon River flows for 2014 reach Brady Swamp!

The first Wannon River flows for 2014 reach Brady Swamp!

It feels like ages ago (way back in March) that a dedicated crew of volunteers helped us get the Brady Swamp restoration trial structure in place (see blog here).

The restoration trial structure on the artificial drainage outlet from Brady Swamp (which is visible in the distance) on the 22nd of July 2014.

But now finally, after a good start to the winter season, it is great to be able to report that the first water has just started trickling in from one of the floodplain delta tributaries of the Wannon River that discharges into the north western corner of Brady Swamp. The lowest parts of Brady Swamp had already started to hold water this winter from local rainfall and possibly supplemented by water from the Bunnugal Drain, which we observed was now slowly flowing under the Dog Leg Rd bridge (to the east of Brady Swamp).

Given the difficulty in knowing exactly how long it will take for water to make its way down the Wannon from its catchment in the Grampians, we (myself, Lachie F and Lauren V) were somewhat fortunate to time our visit on Tuesday the 22nd July with the first flow just reaching the edge of Brady Swamp. Based on the small area of water that was starting to trickle in, it looks like flows had just made it within the previous 6-12 hours.

The “front line” of the Wannon River flows reaching Brady Swamp in 2014 (PS: see if you can spot Lachie recording some time-lapse imagery of the flow that features in the video link below).

Lachie also quickly put together this little video snippet to show exactly what we mean by a ‘trickling” flow.

Given the large size and capacity of Brady Swamp, we now wait patiently for additional rainfall and inflows to increase water levels over next month or two – hopefully to a depth that will give the new restoration trial structure the opportunity to operate in 2014. Fingers crossed!

The first Wannon River flows reach Brady Swamp – entering from the tea tree area to the left of the image.

 

 

Mark Bachmann